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Ortiz caught up on BP, not yet running

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JUPITER, Fla. -- This is not a race. Honest to Herb Washington, it isn't. If it were, Mike Napoli already would have been declared the winner -- he left the starting line Sunday in Fort Myers. David Ortiz still hasn't taken his mark. So goes the race of the infirm. Napoli, still troubled by his hips, ran the bases for the first time. Big Papi is a week behind.

Manager John Farrell doesn't anticipate Ortiz falling behind in any other aspect of his Spring Training preparation, which is to say he'll get his swings, whether or not his wheels are functional. And that's that. Time with a glove is not particularly important.

"He's taking regular BP right now. At least he's getting regular baseline in," Farrell said Sunday. "I'll say this, come the 13th of the month, we won't be pinned into our game schedule with the A games. We can use Minor League games to get him five or six at-bats on a given day. We can build that number in pretty quickly on back fields."